Fonterra's historic loss, a change of leadership and a review of dairy industry law have opened up a strategic vacuum that could see its brands carved off and sold to reduce farm debt. Bernard Hickey looks at the pros and cons for Newsroom.

The New Zealand Initiative has released a report slamming the Government's spending as inefficient and wasteful, but there’s more to the numbers than meets the eye, Thomas Coughlan reports for Newsroom..

Phil Twyford went against the advice of Treasury to increase off-balance sheet borrowing, which could eventually cost the taxpayer $36 million each year in extra interest costs, Thomas Coughlan reports for Newsroom.

Technology alone will not solve the world’s problems. But combining technological advancements with circular economy thinking could be our best shot at creating a sustainable industrialised future, argue Andy Kenworthy and James Griffin on Newsroom.

New Zealand milk production may grow to a record of nearly 23 billion litres in the 2018/19 season, bolstered by a favourable milk price and adequate feed reserves, and assuming normal weather conditions, according to Rabobank’s dairy analyst Emma Higgins

New Zealand may finally implement deposit protection as part of a review of the Reserve Bank. New Zealand is currently the only country in the OECD without any kind of deposit insurance reports Thomas Coughlan for Newsroom.

That Donald Trump has upended the world of diplomacy is not up for debate. Yet the New Zealand embassy’s decision to engage a US lobbying firm with no prior foreign experience raises questions about the state of our affairs in Washington, as Sam Sachdeva writes for Newsroom today.

The more the unrelenting US-China competition foreshadowed in contemporary US planning becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, the more New Zealand and its partners need to encourage a regional environment less dominated by the ambitions of the big two, writes Robert Ayson for Newsroom today.

Last Thursday a 72-year-old man used his time at the most-watched podium in the land to make a rather extraordinary ideological statement about the state we find ourselves in and, it seems, to swing a hammer at what has felt like a layer of thick ice between New Zealand as it is and New Zealand as it will be writes Anna Connell for Newshub. "Far too many New Zealanders have come to view today's capitalism, not as their friend, but as their foe” said Winston Peters "That is why we believe that capitalism must regain its responsible - its human…

One of the striking things about New Zealand in recent times has been the deepening disconnect between our traditional security partners, and the trading partners that increasingly underpin our prosperity. 50 years ago security and trade went hand in hand. Then things started to change with the UK joining the EU. NZ had to seek new partners, new arrangements, and new friends. Things have greatly improved over the last 30 years Partly thanks to some welcome – though very slow – agricultutal policy reform in the EU and US. But also due to the opening of massive new markets on…

These are difficult times in Saudi Arabia. The long slump in the price of oil is eviscerating the economy. Neighboring countries are plagued by violence and extremism. Saudi Arabia’s air force has been raining death and destruction on Yemen for 19 months, with no end in sight. The kingdom’s regional struggle with Iran shapes every decision in international affairs. Inside the country, the Islamic State has been recruiting so intently that the police have established a direct emergency phone number, 990, for families to call when they think one of their sons is about to go to Syria to join…